Young and Beautiful
by huntinglily
Summary: This is the glee kids as they grow up. Unholy Trinity/eventually Rachel-centric, though it features all the main characters. It starts at age six and will follow them through at least high school, and probably longer. Rated T for later chapters but as of now, the content is PG.
1. Chapter 1

**Before I give my notes – to anyone reading my Pezberry story, I've been without a computer for the past few weeks so that's why I haven't updated. I'm working on the next chapter and it will be up soon.**

**Okay, this story – I'm not one hundred percent sure where it's going to end up. It starts with the glee kids at age six and will go on from there. Please note that this story is AU and in my world, all of the kids are in the same grade and grow up together. I am also aware of the fact that Quinn's sister's name is Frannie, but personally I'm not a fan of the name so I'm changing it for this story. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Glee or the characters**

* * *

Quinn Fabray stared into the mirror, expressionless as she studied her reflection.

At six years old, she was already beautiful. Her long blonde hair was plaited into a perfect French braid that hung down her back, tied off with a bright red ribbon knotted into a bow. Tiny diamond earrings and a matching diamond bracelet caught the light and sparkled every time she moved. For the first day of kindergarten, she had chosen to wear a white baby doll dress, a red cardigan, and black flats. Nothing too attention-grabbing; her looks were already more than enough in that department.

A silver chain with a diamond cross hung on her neck. Her daddy had given her the necklace as a joint present for her sixth birthday and her First Communion.

"_Only the best for my princess," he had whispered to her as he placed the piece of jewelry around her neck. "A pretty necklace for my pretty girl." _

Her daddy was always saying how pretty she was; everybody was always saying how pretty she was. No matter where she went, people constantly complimented her looks and every time, Quinn responded in the way she had been taught to do so, nodding her head politely and saying thank you.

Quinn leaned closer to the mirror, staring hard into her face. Her skin was like porcelain; flawlessly smooth and the color of ivory. Her lips were full and red, and her eyes were a deep shade of hazel, almost leaning more towards green. She had long eyelashes that fluttered when she blinked, and a friend of her mother's had once told her that it was as if someone hard carved her face from marble and chiseled it into utter perfection.

Quinn knew she was pretty and if she was being completely honest with herself, she was getting tired of hearing it over and over again. But she was her daddy's princess and she had been raised to be nothing but perfect. So she kept quiet and obediently put up with the constant attention she got, all the while silently loathing every second of it.

She smiled into the mirror and examined her teeth, which her dentist called "her beautiful pearly whites." As she beamed angelically into the mirror, testing out different smiles in effort to find the perfect one for the first day of school, Quinn noticed as she always did that although she was smiling, there was something wrong. No matter how pretty and shiny she made herself look, that sparkle never reached her eyes. She had seen the way other kids laughed and how when they did so, their eyes laughed along with their mouths. But when Quinn laughed, her eyes remained guarded; they were always guarded. She had learned very quickly growing up that showing emotion was not necessarily a good thing, especially when that emotion was bad or sinful. Eventually, she had come to realize that it was far easier to keep her emotions in check, rather than express them.

She finally settled on a small, closed-mouth smile; while still pretty, though not overly shiny, it gave her a vague and distant look and that's the part she wanted to play today.

Playing parts was how Quinn lived her life. With her father, it was the role of perfect daughter; she was Daddy's little girl. With her mother and older sister, she was the sweet baby of the family. With strangers, she projected head-held-high disinterest because her daddy had always told her that she was better than everyone else. Though she didn't agree, Quinn had been raised – trained – to play her parts correctly. She had already decided to spend her first day of kindergarten observing the scene before choosing which role would best suit her there.

"Oh Quinnie, let me look at you."

Quinn turned her head at the sound of her mother's voice and dutifully turned in a slow circle, displaying herself.

Quinn watched her mother put a hand to her mouth and blink back tears. Judy Fabray was an older version of Quinn's sister, Mackenzie, with golden hair and soft facial features. She was a kind and quiet woman, and ultimately took a back seat when it came to Quinn's father.

"You look so grown up; I can't believe my baby's going to kindergarten!"

"Do I look okay, Mommy?" Quinn asked, a hint of anxiety seeping into the tone of her voice.

Judy nodded and crossed the room, placing her hands lightly on her daughter's shoulders.

"More than okay. Did you do your hair all by yourself?"

Quinn shook her head. "Kenzie did it for me. She said that when I get a little older, she's going to teach me how to braid my own hair."

Judy smiled and kissed Quinn's forehead. "That is so nice of your sister. Now, why don't you grab your bag and head downstairs for breakfast? You don't want to be late for your first day of school, do you?"

Quinn shook her head and put on her backpack. Before she left the room, she took one last look at herself in the mirror, practicing the smile she had chosen for the day. She turned to her mother.

"Do I look pretty enough for Daddy?"

Judy was aware – painfully aware – of the effect her husband had on her younger daughter. Quinn was constantly making an effort to look perfect, act perfect, and live up to her father's expectations. Quinn was only six years old and already Judy could tell how hypersensitive the child was about her appearance. She was not blind to how guarded Quinn was and it hurt Judy to know that her precious six year-old was already hurting inside because of her husband's high standards. But there was nothing she or anyone else could do about it; Russel Fabray got what he wanted, and what he wanted was the perfect daughter to show off to the world. Lucky for him, Quinn had learned to deliver that flawlessly.

Judy had known the second Quinn was born that Mackenzie would be tossed aside and Quinn would take her place in Russel's eyes. Her younger daughter was beautiful; it was almost inhuman how perfect she was, even at her incredibly young age. But perfection came with a price and it broke Judy's heart to know that Quinn was already very aware of that fact.

However, she kept her fears to herself and smiled at Quinn. "I think you look perfect Quinnie, and I know Daddy will, too."

Quinn nodded and took off downstairs. Her daddy and sister were sitting at the kitchen table, and both looked up as she entered the room.

Russel Fabray was a tall and handsome man; Quinn had inherited his high cheekbones, sharp bone structure, and hazel eyes. His face lit up at the sight of his younger daughter, and he stood as she approached him.

"Princess! There's my perfect girl, and doesn't she look pretty?"

He grabbed Quinn and picked her up, twirling her around in the air and kissing her cheek. Quinn hated when her daddy did that; to be honest, she didn't really like people touching her in general. However, she refused to squirm and instead allowed her daddy to spin her through the air, thankful when he placed her back on the kitchen floor.

"Thank you, Daddy. Kenzie did my hair."

Russel waved his hand, dismissing the comment. "Yes, yes. Very nice, Mackenzie. Anyways, are you excited for school, princess? Ready to show all those other kids how special you are?"

Quinn nodded obediently, praying that her father would stop talking and was thankful when he smiled confidently at her and sat back down, picking up his newspaper. Quinn took a seat next to her sister, an apology shining in her eyes. She was not blind to the fact that her daddy basically ignored Mackenzie and focused most of his attention on her. She could see the sadness that was in her sister's eyes every time Russel cast her aside, but she was never bitter to Quinn.

"You look pretty, Quinnie." Mackenzie smiled softly at her, and Quinn's heart ached for her older sister.

"Thanks, Kenzie. You do, too."

"Thank you."

Mackenzie knew she would never be as good as her little sister to their father, and that was hard to deal with, especially with Russel constantly bragging to everyone about Quinn. She also knew Quinn blamed herself for that and appreciated her sister's endless attempts to assure her that she was every bit as perfect, though they both knew it wasn't true – at least, not in the eyes of the man who mattered.

When both girls were finished eating, they grabbed their backpacks and ran to kiss their mother goodbye. Judy took several pictures of them before giving them both hugs and sending them out the door where their father waited in the car.

The ride to school was painful; all Russel talked about was Quinn's first day of kindergarten, with only several mentions that it was also Mackenzie's first day of middle school. Both girls were relieved when they pulled up to the school, which had been split into three buildings – William McKinley Elementary School, William McKinley Middle School, and William McKinley High School.

Russel turned around and looked at his daughters. He beamed at Quinn.

"This is it, princess. You look perfect, and so pretty. Show them how special you are. I love you so much. Make Daddy proud today."

Quinn nodded. "I love you too, Daddy."

He turned to Mackenzie. "Good luck. Do well today. Make sure you get your sister to her classroom. Take care of her, Mackenzie."

Disappointment flashed across Mackenzie's eyes at her father's vague words, but nodded. She had learned not to expect much from him, and she knew that her primary job was to protect her little sister. Quinn was the gem of their family and Mackenzie knew that she would be the one blamed if anything happened to her.

Quinn opened her mouth to stick up for her sister, but Mackenzie shook her head, a warning flashing in her eyes and Quinn closed her mouth as they clambered out of the car. Russel waved and drove off, leaving the two girls standing on the sidewalk in front of their schools.

Quinn apologized as soon as the car was out of sight.

"I'm sorry, Kenzie."

Mackenzie waved her hand. "Don't worry about it, Quinnie. Come on, I'll walk you to your classroom."

Quinn nodded and followed her sister as Mackenzie led them into the elementary school building. As soon as they walked through the doors and Quinn saw how many kids milled around in the hallway, her eyes widened and her blood went cold. There were so many people – too many people. Mackenzie saw her freeze and immediately grabbed her little sister, pulling her against the wall and looking into Quinn's frightened eyes.

"Quinnie, I'm going to tell you something and I really need you to hear me out and listen to me, okay? Can you do that?"

Quinn nodded.

"I'm scared, Kenzie."

"I know. I know how much you hate being in big crowds of people. It's because people always stare at you, right? Because you're so pretty. But you hate the attention, don't you?"

Quinn nodded again, tears filling her eyes.

"Right. Okay, listen to me. You're not going to like what I have to say, but I'm being one hundred percent honest and only thinking of you. People are going to stare, Quinnie. They are going to see you and be scared because they're going to think you are the prettiest girl they have ever seen, which you will be. But don't show them any fear. If they know you're scared, they might try to use that against you and you don't want that to happen. You have to be in charge. Watch the kids in your class and pick your friends very carefully. If everyone knows you're in charge, nobody can hurt you. Okay? I know you picked a smile for today. Show me."

Quinn wiped away her tears and composed herself. She let the emotion drain from her eyes and smiled at her sister.

"Thought so. Okay, now turn that smile into a smirk. Make the face you would if you had just won a cheerleading contest and you were walking past the losing team."

Quinn thought for a moment, imagining how it would feel to win something and know she was better than the people who had lost. She pressed her lips together and pulled them into a smirk, raising one eyebrow.

Mackenzie held back a shudder; it was truly frightening how mean and scary her six year-old sister looked in that moment. But she smiled at Quinn and nodded.

"Perfect. That's the face you need to make all day. You can real-smile at the people you make friends with, but everybody else gets the smirk, okay? You're in charge. Make sure everybody else knows it, too."

Mackenzie took Quinn's hand and pulled her through the hallway until they arrived in front of Quinn's classroom. She turned to face her little sister and looked into the hazel eyes that stared up at her.

"One more time. Let's see the face."

Quinn smirked at Mackenzie, and her sister nodded her consent.

"I'm going to leave now so I'm not late. You'll be okay, Quinnie."

Quinn suddenly threw her arms around her sister's waist and hugged her, something she rarely did. Mackenzie knew how deeply frightened her little sister was and held her tight for several moments before releasing her and kissing Quinn's forehead.

"You're in charge, Quinnie. I'll pick you up in the yard after school."

"Bye, Kenzie."

With that, Mackenzie took off and Quinn was on her own. She took a deep breath and stepped into the classroom, observing the scene.

The room was filled with little desks, and a number of them were already occupied. There was a black girl and a girlish-looking boy talking to an Asian boy and girl. Three boys sat in a clump together; one had blonde hair and big lips, and the other two had brown hair. The boy with lighter brown hair was super tall. He and the blonde boy were watching the third boy, who had dark brown hair cut into a Mohawk and wore a sleeveless shirt, show off his non-existent muscles. Three children say by themselves; a black boy who appeared to be observing the other kids like Quinn was doing, a small boy in a wheelchair, and a pretty blonde girl who looked so spacey that Quinn couldn't tell if she was actually looking at something or if she was simply zoning out.

Finally, Quinn's eyes came to rest on a small girl with dark hair, dark skin, and dark eyes that stood in the corner of the room. Though she was shorter than Quinn, the girl looked fierce. She wasn't smirking, like Quinn was; she was straight-up glaring at the classroom scene. Quinn could see that this girl was just like her – scared, but desperately trying not to show it. She made her way across the room to stand in front of her.

The shorter girl's gaze was wary as Quinn approached her. As soon as she reached her, the girl wasted no time in speaking before Quinn even had the chance to open her mouth.

"If you say something mean to me, I'll hit you."

Quinn tilted her head, studying the girl in front of her.

"Why would I say something mean to you?"

The other girl shrugged.

"You look mean."

She clearly wasn't afraid of speaking her mind and Quinn took note of that fact. The girl obviously wasn't going to open up and drop the tough-girl act until Quinn gave her something to show she deserved it.

She nodded and remembered what Mackenzie had told her about who was allowed to see her real smile.

"That's because I'm smirking. I'm making myself look mean. Do you want to see me smile for real?"

The shorter girl still looked wary, but nodded after a moment and Quinn dropped her smirk. She pulled back her lips and let her teeth show, knowing how perfect she would look. She also knew that in order to gain this girl's trust, she would need to be real, so Quinn let her guard down and allowed emotion to sparkle in her eyes.

The other girl's eyes widened. She stared at Quinn for several seconds before composing herself and speaking again.

"How did you do that?"

"Do what?"

"Make yourself look so pretty. I mean, you were pretty before, too. But you also looked really mean. Now, you just look pretty – really, really pretty."

Quinn shrugged and returned to her smirk. "Not everybody gets to see that smile."

"Why not?"

"Because my sister told me I could only let my friends see my real smile. Everybody else can only see this face because that's the only way they'll be afraid of me and can't hurt me."

The other girl was silent, and Quinn could see her processing this new information. Finally, the girl looked up at her and the wariness had left her eyes.

"You're scared, aren't you. Of being here at school."

Though technically it was a question, the shorter girl stated her words as if they were a fact that she already knew and just needed confirmation. Quinn nodded and the other girl did as well.

"I knew it. That's why you looked so mean, right?"

"Yes."

The shorter girl paused for a moment and then spoke again.

"I can tell you're not a fighter. My papí says I'm a fighter, but I can tell you're too pretty for that. You can fight with your words, though, I bet. And you're pretty enough that people will listen to whatever you say. I bet if we walked around together, everybody would be really scared of us."

Quinn smiled again, her real smile, and knew she had just solidified a very important friendship.

"I'm Quinn Fabray."

"Santana Lopez."

"Santana? That's a cool name."

"So is Quinn. It's pretty. It fits you."

The two girls shook hands. Santana noticed that a shadow flickered across Quinn's eyes every time Santana told her she was pretty. She tilted her head as Quinn had done earlier and looked at the blonde.

Quinn raised her eyebrow. "What?" she asked. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

Santana was silent for a moment and then spoke.

"I bet people tell you all the time how pretty you are, don't they?"

Quinn nodded, and Santana saw the shadow in her eyes again and knew her assumptions were correct.

"You don't like that. I can tell."

Quinn bit her lip and Santana saw the first flicker of uncertainty since their conversation had started flash across her flawless face.

"My daddy makes a really big deal out of it all the time to everybody we meet." Quinn dropped her voice to a whisper. "I hate it."

Santana searched the blonde girl's gaze and the amount of sadness she saw in her hazel eyes made something in her heart ache.

She gave Quinn a genuine smile. "Okay. I won't do that. Make a big deal out it, I mean. I won't let anybody else do it either. Nobody will hurt you ever, and I won't leave you. I promise."

Quinn gazed down at Santana, soaking in her words. She was used to Mackenzie protecting her, but even her sister had never promised her something like Santana just had. Quinn felt safe standing with the fierce little girl and that was a feeling that was rare for her. She took Santana's hand in her own and held it.

"You're going to be my best friend. I can tell. I promise I'll protect you, too. Nobody is allowed to hurt you. We're going to be in charge together."

Santana bit her lip in an effort not to smile and nodded in agreement.

"Best friends."

Quinn released Santana's hand and looked around.

"Where do you want to sit?"

Santana followed her gaze and her dark eyes landed on two desks in the middle of the room. She pointed to them.

"Those two. That way, everybody will see us and know who we are."

Quinn nodded her approval, and Santana studied the taller girl. She reminded Santana of one of her abuela's cats – pretty with long silky fur (or hair in Quinn's case) but not friendly to anyone she didn't trust. However, for some reason, Quinn had chosen to trust Santana, and something in Santana knew that the crazily pretty and shiny and scared girl deserved her trust in return. There was something about Quinn and the sadness in her eyes that made Santana want to hurt everyone who had ever hurt her.

She tugged Quinn's braid lightly. "You really are the prettiest girl I've ever seen in my whole entire life."

Quinn smiled and shrugged. "I know that. You're really pretty, too."

Santana grinned. "Come on, pretty girl, let's sit down. Put your mean face back on."

Together, the two girls walked over to the desks they had chosen for themselves. Quinn sat down, but Santana remained standing, examining the room. By that time, the majority of the room was filled with children and Santana knew if she was going to say something, she had to say it now before their teacher came in.

She turned to Quinn and locked eyes with her.

"Trust me?"

Quinn's eyes widened slightly in confusion, but she nodded and Santana climbed onto her desk, standing tall in the middle of the room.

"Everybody, listen up!"

All the children in the room turned to look at her and fell silent. Santana cleared her throat and pointed to Quinn.

"See her? That's Quinn, and I'm Santana. If you hurt Quinn, I will hurt you back. Nobody touches her. Got that?"

They all nodded their heads. Whoever Santana was, she was incredibly scary and fierce-looking. Not a single child in the room doubted her words.

Quinn leveled her gaze and swept it across the room, raising her eyebrow in a challenge.

"Same goes for me. If you hurt Santana, I'll hurt you, too. Not in the same way Santana will, but I'll be mean to you. Really, really mean."

Everyone in the room stared at Quinn. She was without a doubt the prettiest girl any of them had ever seen. She was so pretty, she almost didn't seem real. The boy with the Mohawk stared at her with his mouth slightly open; he couldn't tear his eyes away from the blonde girl. She was so beautiful. So beautiful.

Santana could tell that all of the attention was making Quinn uncomfortable and she snapped her fingers, drawing everyone's gaze back to her.

"One more thing. I know Quinn is really pretty, but don't talk about it. We all know she's pretty so there's no reason for anyone to say it again."

"But why?"

Everyone turned to the back of the room. Santana's dark eyes landed on a tiny brunette girl with a somewhat big nose wearing a sweater with a kitten on it. The little girl wasn't fazed whatsoever by all the attention; in fact, she seemed to revel in it.

"I simply mean, if I was as attractive as Quinn, I would want everybody to tell me so. What's so bad about a little well-deserved attention?"

A warning bell went off in Santana's head; for one thing, she could tell this girl was really smart and really confident – too confident. She sounded older than six years old, even though Santana knew that's how old everyone in the classroom was. People who were confident weren't afraid, and Santana knew that would be a trigger for trouble. She also knew that the small girl meant no harm, but after what Quinn had told her about her father and all the attention he gave her over her looks, Santana could tell that Quinn would take the girl's words in the wrong way.

She looked down at Quinn. There was an emotion in the blonde's eyes that Santana couldn't quite read. She looked shocked and alarmed and scared and…awed? Quinn clearly wasn't oblivious to the girl's confidence, either. Santana could see anger in the blonde's expression. The tiny brunette had obviously pushed some sort of button in Quinn and Santana could tell the blonde was about to get mean.

She quickly got down from her desk and put a hand on Quinn's shoulder. Quinn looked into Santana's eyes and visibly calmed down at her touch.

"Let me handle this."

Quinn nodded.

Santana made her way through the desks until she was standing in front of the girl who had spoken. She was incredibly tiny.

"You want to know why you're not allowed to talk about how pretty Quinn is?"

The tiny girl nodded.

"One, because not everybody likes attention the way you clearly do. And two, because I said so."

The tone and finality of the words Santana spoke were enough to make the other girl's eyes widen as she sat down and nodded. She had no doubt that Santana would hurt her if she challenged her again and even though she wanted to say more, she knew that it would get her nowhere.

Santana nodded her approval at the other girl's silence and swept her gaze across the room.

"We're in charge. Don't mess with us and we won't mess with you."

With that, Santana flounced back to her desk next to Quinn and took a seat. The classroom door opened and their teacher walked in, introducing herself as Ms. Walker. As the woman began to explain how kindergarten would work, Quinn shot Santana a smile – a real smile – and Santana smiled back. Both girls had come to school alone that day but knew that would never been the case again.

* * *

By the end of the first month of school, all of the children in Ms. Walker's class had become familiar with each other and were learning where they stood in the social pyramid of kindergarten.

Quinn and Santana were inseparable. They sat next to each other in class and played together during recess. True to her word, Santana hadn't left Quinn's side since the first day and Quinn was grateful for that fact.

Though it had only been four weeks, Quinn completely loved Santana. She was a feisty little thing and the perfect companion for Quinn. She wasn't afraid to be mean to Quinn when the blonde threw attitude her way, but was quick to defend her against anyone else.

_Sometime during the second week of school, one of the fourth graders had approached the two girls during recess. She pointed at Quinn. _

"_What's your name?" _

_Quinn looked up from her game of Pick-Up Sticks with Santana. _

"_Quinn." _

_The older girl who had spoken sneered._

"_Well, Quinn, my little sister told me you were mean to her. She said that you told her she was ugly. Is that true?" _

"_Who's your little sister?" _

_The girl pointed to a second-grader on the opposite side of the playground that Quinn had, in fact, been mean to the day before. _

_Quinn shrugged. "She was mean to Santana. She deserved it."_

_The girl glared at Quinn._

"_No she didn't. Nobody deserves to be told they're ugly except for you."_

_At that, Santana laughed out loud and stood up. Though she only came up to the fourth grader's shoulder, she had no problem walking right up to the older girl and getting in her face. _

"_You're funny, you know that?" _

_The older girl took a tiny step back, slightly alarmed at how close Santana was to her, but she held her head high and stood her ground._

"_What do you mean? I wasn't trying to be funny." _

_Santana laughed again, though the sound of it was cold. _

"_Oh, I know you weren't trying to be funny. You were trying to be mean. Quinn called your sister ugly so you called her ugly back. But you actually just ended up sounding stupid. Have you seen Quinn? Look at her." _

_The fourth grader looked at Quinn and though she was glaring, Santana could see that she was just as awed by Quinn's beauty as everyone else was. _

"_I know you think she's super pretty, and it's because she is. So don't bother trying to lie about it and tell her you think she's ugly when you obviously don't. She is way prettier than you or your sister will ever be. And if you're ever mean to her again, I'll hit you. Hard."_

_The fourth grader's eyes widened and she scowled at the two kindergarteners as she backed away. _

_She pointed at Santana._

"_You're crazy."_

_With that, she took off and Santana smiled, satisfied. Nobody hurt her blonde and got away with it. She turned back to Quinn, who was looking at her in awe. _

"_Thanks for sticking up for me, S." _

_The two girls had taken to calling each other by their first initial as a sign of affection. S and Q were two names that no one else was allowed to call them. _

_Santana shrugged and nudged Quinn's shoulder as the two girls sat back down to finish their game. _

"_No problem, Q. I told you I wouldn't let anybody hurt you." _

_Quinn gave Santana one of her rare, real smiles and Santana's heart fluttered. She had seen that smile only twice and already she knew that she would spend the rest of her life attempting to see it again. Quinn was her blonde now and Santana loved her. She loved her so much._

There were eleven other children in their kindergarten class, and Quinn and Santana had opinions on all of them. Together, Ms. Walker's class made up an interesting group.

Mercedes Jones was an incredibly sassy African American girl who was slightly larger than the rest of the children, almost as if she had leftover baby fat. She had an attitude that could rival Santana's, though she was more of a diva whereas Santana was like a tiny pit bull. Kurt Hummel, who at six years old was already flamboyantly gay, was Mercedes' best friend and just as much of a diva as she was. They had glommed onto each other on the first day and were now attached at the hip, constantly giggling and gossiping together about whatever the latest kindergarten news was.

Tina Cohen-Chang was a shy Asian girl who kept quiet most of the time. However, when she did say something, it was nearly always nice. Mike Chang, with his long legs and lithe body, was clearly going to be a dancer when he grew up. The same went for Brittany Pierce, a tall blonde girl with sky blue eyes and the sweetest personality of anyone Quinn had ever met. Mike and Brittany played together everyday at recess, making up dance moves together as Tina watched them, delighted and impressed.

The boy in the wheelchair was Artie Abrams. With his glasses and sweater vests, he looked like a stereotypical nerd. He actually was incredibly smart, though he seemed to spend more time fiddling around with his father's old video camera than he did doing schoolwork. He spent most of his time with Matt Rutherford, an extremely quiet little half-African American boy who rarely spoke and instead appeared to spend most of his time observing the other children and watching Artie film bugs they found on the playground.

Then there were the three musketeers – Sam Evans, Finn Hudson, and Noah Puckerman, who had deemed himself Puck on the first day of school. Sam had blonde hair and big lips and though he was quieter than his two friends, he was always very good-natured and laughed along with their jokes, played their games, etc. Finn was an incredibly tall boy with light brown hair. Though he always had a look of confusion on his face in the classroom, he was very athletic and always carried a football with him. Puck, with his sleeveless t-shirts and dark brown Mohawk, made up the third part of their trio and played the tough-guy role perfectly.

Finally, there was Rachel Berry, the tiny brunette girl with the somewhat big nose who had spoken out against Santana on that first day. She was ridiculously short, though her huge personality more than made up for her lack in height.

Rachel was the loudest, most obnoxious girl that Quinn had ever met. She sounded like a grown-up when she talked because of all the big words she used, and she was constantly talking. Whether it was answering a question in class or chatting with the other children at recess, the little brunette always had something to say.

Quinn hated Rachel. She hated that the incredibly tiny girl who should technically be afraid of everything didn't seem afraid at all. She was smart, loud, confident, and Quinn couldn't stand her.

Santana hated Rachel too, though for different reasons Quinn did. Sure, she thought Rachel was annoying but that could be overlooked. What _couldn't_ be overlooked was the fact that the small girl made Quinn so upset. Santana could see that her best friend was obviously jealous of Rachel because of how confident and sure of herself she was.

Santana had learned very quickly that despite her flawless looks and outside demeanor, Quinn's self-esteem was actually shockingly low. Everyday before the walked into their classroom, Quinn asked Santana if she looked okay and every time Santana caught sight of the anxiety and desperate need for reassurance in her blonde's eyes, her heart broke a little more. She always nodded her head and told Quinn she looked Quinn she looked pretty.

Santana was the only person Quinn could tolerate telling her she was pretty, because she knew that Santana saw her for more than her looks yet still meant it when she said she was pretty.

It was precisely for all those reasons that Santana hated Rachel. She tried her best to keep Quinn away from the tiny diva, but that was hard to do, especially with them all in class together. Santana constantly told Quinn to ignore Rachel, but it was nearly impossible for _anyone_ to do that, with Rachel constantly raising her hand in class and making her presence known to the other children.

Rachel clearly pushed so many buttons in Quinn, and Santana had no idea how to fix that problem. It didn't help that she had her own problem with a different one of their classmates either, though this was a very different kind of problem.

A problem she had planned on keeping to herself until Quinn caught on.

* * *

About three months into school, the two girls were sitting on a bench together during recess, snacking on cookies that Santana's mamí had made. Quinn had been watching Santana watch Brittany and Mike dance for several minutes before it finally clicked.

"S?"

Santana responded without looking away from Brittany and Mike.

"Yeah, Q?"

"You like Brittany, don't you."

At that, Santana whipped her head around, her dark eyes wide.

"What do you mean?"

Quinn bit her lip, trying to hold back a knowing smirk.

"You like her. I see the way you look at her. You think she's pretty, don't you?"

Guilt flashed across Santana's eyes.

"You're prettier."

Quinn shook her head. The amount of loyalty Santana had to her was unbelievable.

"I know S, and thank you but it's okay for you to think she's pretty, too. She totally is. You can play with her if you want."

"I can't. I promised I wouldn't leave you."

"Okay. What if tomorrow at recess we ask her to play with us?"

Santana's eyes lit up.

"Really, Q? Do you think she'll play with us?"

Quinn nodded.

"Why wouldn't she? I think she likes you too, S. Sometimes I see her looking at you during class. I bet she wants to be your best friend, too."

There it was. Santana saw uncertainty flash across Quinn's face and she immediately grabbed the other girl's hands.

"Look at me, Q."

Quinn's hazel eyes met Santana's dark brown ones.

"No matter who else I become friends with or who I like or whatever happens, you will always be my best friend. I love you, like for real. You're my blonde. Can I get a smile?"

Quinn gave her a real smile and Santana swore she had never seen anything so pretty. Quinn's real smile was her favorite thing in the entire world.

"I love you too, S. I'll always be your blonde. Now, let's go get you another one."

Quinn cocked her head in Brittany's direction and winked, and Santana laughed. She sighed in content and leaned her head on Quinn's shoulders. Quinn took Santana's hand in her own, and the two girls sat like that until the bell rang and they had to go back inside.

* * *

**Up next: Brittany and the formation of the young Unholy Trinity! **

**I hope you enjoyed it, feedback is always appreciated.**


	2. Chapter 2

**This is really short, but it's the end of them being 6 years old. They'll be older starting in the next chapter.**

* * *

The next day, Santana was an anxious wreck, which in turn made her mad because she rarely let her emotions get the best of her. Today was the day that she and Quinn would ask Brittany to play with them at recess.

Santana had been watching Brittany for months now and she was completely enchanted. Everyday, she looked on from a distance as the blonde danced with mike on the playground. The two were not like ordinary six year-olds just jumping and twirling around – they could _dance_.

Santana had also been watching Brittany during class. She wasn't blind to the fact that the blonde wasn't exactly the smartest kid; to be honest, some of her answers to the question their teacher asked were so spacey that Santana couldn't help but wonder if there were unicorns and clouds in the girl's head.

But none of that mattered to Santana. Brittany was one of the sweetest, purest people she had ever met and Santana thought she was absolutely perfect.

That day during reading, which was right before recess, Quinn watched her best friend as Ms. Walker read aloud to them. The little Latina's legs bounced up and down and her fingers drummed repeatedly against her desk. Her dark eyes darted from Brittany to Ms. Walker to the floor and to Brittany again.

Quinn rolled her eyes. She thought that Santana was being ridiculous.

"_What if she says no?" _

_Santana had bombarded Quinn was her nerves as soon as they had arrived at school that morning. _

"_Why would she say no?" _

"_Okay. So say she says yes. What if she realizes she doesn't like me?"_

_Quinn was getting tired of Santana's questions and sighed. "What's not to like?" _

"_But what if, Q?"_

"_What if what?" _

"_What if she doesn't like me and never wants to play with us again?" _

_Finally, Quinn had snapped._

"_Who cares, S? It's just Brittany, she's not that special. Quit asking me dumb questions." _

_Santana drew back and met Quinn's flashing eyes. _

"_Quinn." _

_Santana never called her Quinn; it was always Q. If it was Quinn, it was a warning. Quinn's eyes immediately shot to the floor. _

"_Sorry."_

_Santana could tell that something was very wrong. Quinn rarely snapped at her and when she did, it was during playful arguments. It was never like this. However, the blonde obviously wasn't ready to share her issues yet so Santana had simply acknowledged the apology with a nod of her head and let Quinn off the hook. _

Finally the bell rang, signaling an hour-long recess. All of the children shot out of their desks and raced outside to play.

Quinn took her time putting her cardigan on as Santana impatiently fidgeted at the door. As soon as she was done, they walked outside and Santana's eyes automatically flew to Brittany, who was sitting by herself on a bench. Taking a deep breath, Santana began to walk towards her with Quinn following somewhat reluctantly.

Brittany looked up and her eyes widened at the sight of the two girls approaching her, though more in delight than fear, which is how the rest of her classmates would have reacted at the sight of Quinn and Santana. She thought Quinn was super pretty, obviously, but she thought Santana was super pretty, too. She loved Mike and Tina, but she ached to be friends with the two girls.

Santana stopped directly in front of the smiling blonde.

"Hi, Brittany."

"Hi, Santana!" Brittany peered around the Latina and in a slightly shy tone of voice said, "Hi, Quinn."

Quinn didn't reply but nodded her acknowledgment. Santana's gaze lingered on the blonde momentarily before she turned back to Brittany.

"Why are you sitting alone?"

"Oh, I'm just waiting for Mike to get out of the bathroom. We're in the middle of making up a really cool dance!"

"That does sound really cool, but Q and I were actually wondering if you wanted to play with us today instead."

Brittany's blue eyes lit up. "No way. Really?"

"Really."

"Yes! Totally, totally yes. Let me just tell Mike."

She ran off, whispered to Mike, who grinned at her before whispering something back. Brittany nodded excitedly at whatever he had said and then skipped back to Santana and Quinn.

"Okay! I'm ready. What are we going to do?"

Quinn rolled her eyes again but Santana smiled at Brittany's enthusiasm.

"Well, we switch off who gets to choose what we play and today it's Q's turn."

She and Brittany looked expectantly at Quinn, who shrugged.

"I don't care. You decide."

There was a momentary pause before Brittany spoke up. "I have a pink sparkly bouncy ball in my backpack! We could play with that."

Santana looked to Quinn for confirmation, as she did for everything.

"Q?"

Quinn sighed, sounding bored. "Whatever."

Brittany's grin fell slightly.

"I mean, we can totally play something else if you don't want to do that, Quinn."

"I _said_ I don't care."

Santana's inner warning bell went off and she hissed. She could see the nasty gleam beginning to form in her best friend's eyes and knew Quinn was about to get mean. She turned to a sad and confused-looking Brittany.

"Why don't you go get the bouncy ball from your backpack? We'll wait here."

Brittany looked from Santana to Quinn, who was now looking down, and knew instantly that Quinn was in big trouble.

"Sure, I'll be back in a few minutes."

Brittany flounced off and the second she was gone, Santana whirled around to face Quinn.

"What is wrong with you! Why are you being so mean to Brittany? She's trying so hard to be nice but you're scaring her on purpose! I know you are! Why?"

Quinn shrugged, not meeting Santana's gaze, and that was the last straw for Santana. She snapped her fingers in Quinn's face and the blonde's head shot up, her eyes flashing.

"_What_, Santana? What do you want?"

"I know you heard me! Tell me why you were mean to Brittany."

Quinn scoffed. "I wasn't mean to her."

"Quinn."

"It's not like she'd even notice if I was. She's stupid."

Santana closed her eyes momentarily and when she opened them, there was fire in her dark eyes.

"Don't call her stupid just because you're jealous."

"I'm not jealous!"

"Oh, yes you are. You're jealous of her, just like you're jealous of Rachel and everybody else in our class, because we all like ourselves but you hate yourself so you're taking it out on Brittany by trying to scare her away."

Quinn shot backwards as if Santana had slapped her. She stood like that for several long seconds before lowering her head and looking dead into Santana's eyes. The cold fury in her glare was truly the most frightening thing Santana had ever seen and she immediately hated herself for being the cause of it, especially because she knew that Quinn only got mean when she was scared.

"Q—"

But Quinn cut her off. "No. Go play with Brittany. I want to be alone."

Tears filled Santana's eyes. "Q, please don't do this."

Quinn shook her head, the fury in her eyes fading into a deep sadness. "Go, Santana."

Santana gazed into Quinn's sad eyes and felt her heart break into a million pieces. She had hurt her blonde. But Santana knew Quinn well enough to know that there was no use in trying to sweet talk her out of this mood. Quinn was mad and hurt and it was Santana's fault. There was nothing she could do to fix it, and she knew that.

"I know you're hurting, Q, so I'll leave but I need to do something first. I'm going to touch you, okay?"

Quinn gave her the tiniest nod. Even mad, she would still tolerate it. Santana stepped forward and took Quinn's hand in hers. She pressed a feather-light kiss to Quinn's knuckles before dropping the blonde's hand and slowly making her way over to Brittany, who had returned in time to see that entire thing unfold and was now standing next to Mike.

When Santana reached Brittany and Mike, Brittany reached out and brushed away her tears before starting to walk towards Quinn.

Santana grabbed her hand. "Woah, where are you going?"

"To talk to Quinn."

Santana shook her head firmly. "No way. Nobody can go near her when she's like this, not even me. She'll hurt you if you try to talk to her and that will make her even worse because she won't mean to be mean but she will because it's her way of telling you that she's hurt and doesn't want to talk."

But Brittany gently pulled her hand out of Santana's grasp. "I need to talk to her. Trust me."

Santana opened her mouth to protest but Brittany was already walking towards Quinn, who had taken a seat on the bench and was staring at the ground, not a hint of expression or emotion on her perfect face.

"Quinn? If I sit next to you, will you be mean to me?"

Quinn listlessly shook her head and Brittany took a seat next to the blonde.

"I'm going to talk and you can just listen and nod your head since I know you don't want to talk. Okay?"

Quinn gave a small shrug and Brittany took it as a sign to go on.

"I know why you were mean to me earlier. It's because Santana wanted to play with me, right? And I bet that scares you because you think she might like me more than you and end up leaving you."

Quinn hesitated before nodding.

"I know you didn't mean to be mean, though. You only get mean when you're scared because it's kind of like your way of protecting yourself, right? It's like you're a knight in shining armor, only you're really more like a princess. Being mean is like how you put on your armor; it protects you from getting hurt. But being mean _does_ hurt you, doesn't it. I can tell."

Quinn nodded again, her eyes filling with tears.

"I'm sorry," she whispered, and Brittany gave her a sweet smile.

"Don't be sorry, Quinn. I'm not mad. I do want you to know something, though. I really like Santana. I think she's super cool and totally pretty and not like anybody I've ever met. I think she thinks the same things about me. Am I right?"

"Yeah."

"I knew it. Okay, so there. I like Santana and she likes me. And maybe if this whole thing works out, we'll be best friends. Maybe in time, even you and I could be best friends. But I've seen the way Santana looks at you and she totally loves you, Quinn. No matter what happens with me, you will always be number one for her. You're her princess in shining armor. Princess Quinn." Brittany giggled and Quinn cracked a smile.

She looked into Brittany's sweet blue eyes and felt all of the worry and fear drain out of her.

"Brittany?"

"Yeah, Quinn?"

"I want you to be with me and Santana. Like how me and her are always together? I want you with us now, too."

Brittany grinned. "Totally. Can I tell you something?"

"Yeah."

"I know we're not supposed to say it, but I think you're super pretty, Quinn. Like totally the prettiest person I've ever seen. But not just on the outside. I think you have a pretty heart."

It was the most genuine thing anyone had ever said to her, and Quinn closed her eyes, reveling in the feeling the words gave her. Brittany knew she had said the right thing and smiled.

"Quinn?"

"Hmm?"

"Will you make up with Santana now?"

Quinn sighed and nodded. "Can you ask her to come over here?"

"Totally."

Brittany took off and several minutes later, Santana sat down next to Quinn. Both girls looked straight forward and sat in silence until Santana spoke.

"I'm sorry, Q."

"I know."

Santana turned to face Quinn and Quinn met her gaze. "No, Quinn. Like I'm really, really sorry. I promised I wouldn't let anyone hurt you and I was the one who ended up breaking my own promise. I swear on my life that it will never happen again. I will never, ever hurt you like that ever again."

Quinn nodded and Santana sat back. After a slight pause, Quinn spoke.

"I told Brittany I wanted her to be with us from now on."

"Really?"

"Yeah, really."

"That's cool, Q."

Quinn didn't need to look at Santana to know she was smiling. She stood and offered Santana her hand. The little Latina took it and stood up next to her best friend. Santana looked up and studied Quinn's face with her dark eyes.

"Are we good, Q? Are you still my blonde?"

"Yeah, S. We're good. I'm always your blonde. Let's go get Brittany."

Together, they walked over to where the blonde stood with Mike, who backed off as soon as he saw the two girls approaching. Brittany waved to him before turning to Quinn and Santana.

"Are you guys okay?"

Santana nodded, smiling. "Yeah, we're okay, Brittany. I heard you're going to be with us from now on."

Brittany grinned. "Totally. Is that okay?"

"Are you kidding? I've wanted that since the first day of school."

They smiled at each other and turned to Quinn, who had a small, close-mouthed smile settled on her lips, looking content with this new arrangement. But Santana knew that there was one more test Brittany had to pass for Santana to be one hundred percent sure that Quinn accepted her.

"Q? Will you show Brittany your real smile?"

Brittany looked quizzically at Santana. "What do you mean? She's smiling right now, isn't she?"

"Yeah, she kind of is. But only very few people get to see her real smile." Santana turned to Quinn. "Will you show her, Q? Please?"

Quinn looked from her best friend's dark eyes to Brittany's warm blue gaze. She saw nothing but love and adoration there, so she nodded her consent.

"Watch this, Brittany," Santana said, and Brittany looked expectantly at Quinn.

Quinn closed her eyes and let her expression go blank. When she opened her eyes, they were more alive than Brittany had ever seen them, and completely filled with light. She pulled back her lips to reveal her perfect teeth and she smiled at Brittany, whose mouth dropped open.

"Oh my _god_."

Santana watched Quinn – _her_ Quinn – smile at Brittany, and fell in love with the smile all over again. She would never, ever get over the effect it had on her. When Quinn Fabray smiled, she had the ability to make the world fall in love.

Brittany gazed at Quinn, who stood in front of her looking like an angel, but what made Brittany the happiest was that she could see that Quinn was smiling with her heart.

She tapped her own heart and mouthed, _Princess Quinn_.

Quinn's smile grew momentarily and instantly knew that Brittany would bring nothing but love into her life. She returned to her normal, neutral smile and looked completely at peace.

"What'd you think, Brittany?" asked Santana, who had watched their little exchange with a smile on her face. "Cool, right?"

Brittany nodded. "That was the best thing I have ever seen in my entire life. Like, nothing will ever be as good as watching that."

The three girls looked at each other. Slowly, Santana reached out to take Quinn's hand in one of hers and Brittany's hand in the other. Brittany and Quinn joined hands as well, and they stood in a circle, linked together. In that moment, all three of them knew that they would have each other forever. It was Santana who said it out loud.

"Forever?"

Quinn and Brittany nodded and replied together.

"Forever."

* * *

**Next up: Probably 10 years old, maybe fifth grade graduation? **


	3. Chapter 3

**This is a two-part chapter; the first half is a little spurt from Brittany's third grade mind and then it's on to fifth grade graduation as promised. **

* * *

One sunny day towards the middle of third grade, Brittany sat on a bench during recess, watching Quinn and Santana attempt to copy some of the moves they had seen the high school cheerleaders performing. Both girls ached to be Cheerios when they were old enough, which be default meant that Brittany would end up a Cheerio as well. To say the three of them were inseparable would be an understatement.

However, Brittany had sprained her ankle during dance class the previous week so for the time being, she was confined to watching her best friends from where she sat on the bench several feet away. As she listened to Quinn and Santana argue over how to correctly perform the trick they were currently working on, Brittany leaned back against the bench and sighed in content, letting her attention waver and her mind wander.

They were eight years old now, close to nine, and it had been nearly three years since the formation of her friendship with the shiny blonde and the feisty Latina. Brittany thought back to the day she had turned their twosome into a trio and contemplated everything she had learned a lot about the two girls since then.

She loved Santana. _God_, she loved her. From the way her dark eyes flashed when she was mad to the sweet smiles she gave Brittany when they held hands, Brittany was head-over-heels for Santana and had been since the first day of kindergarten.

The little Latina was by far the scariest person Brittany had ever met, challenged only by Quinn. Santana protected Brittany and other blonde with such a fierceness that no one ever dared to be mean to them or hurt their feelings in fear of how Santana would retaliate. But of course, that fierceness was only directed towards other people. Santana never said a harsh word to Brittany or Quinn, except for in a playful tone when she and Quinn argued.

So that was Santana, and then there was Quinn. Brittany knew that Santana loved her unconditionally; she was only eight years old and she already knew that she wanted to marry Santana when they were old enough. Though they hadn't exactly said it in words, Brittany could tell that Santana felt the same way about her. But she wasn't blind; she knew that no matter how much Santana loved her, it was Quinn who was truly the light of her eyes.

Brittany had learned a lot about Quinn throughout their friendship thus far. She knew that the crazy-pretty blonde hated getting complimented on her looks; Brittany told her all the time that she liked her hair or thought her eyes looked extra sparkly on a certain day, but Santana was the only one Quinn allowed to call her pretty. Brittany knew that Quinn didn't like talking about her family, especially her daddy, so they spent most afternoons at Brittany or Santana's house. She knew that Quinn was not a touchy-feely person; Brittany and Santana could cuddle for hours but Quinn had to be in a very specific mood in order to show physical affection. Even then, the most the blonde could handle was having Santana rest her head on her shoulder, or giving Brittany hugs that lasted no more than a few seconds.

Quinn was also incredibly protective of Brittany and Santana, though her methods of making that known to the world differed from Santana's. Whereas the little Latina literally used threats of physical violence to keep people in check, Quinn could simply look at someone and they'd practically shrink back in fear. But just like Santana, Quinn was rarely anything but sweet when she was with her friends.

These thoughts and more ran through Brittany's head as she kept an eye on her best friends. She'd just begun to close her eyes and doze off in the sun when Santana's voice broke through her drowsiness.

"Britt! Can you please tell Quinn that the sequence we saw the Cheerios do last Friday was a front walkover into a running round-off and she's stupid to think otherwise?"

The sound of Quinn's silky voice woke her up even more. "B, I need you to tell S that she's an idiot and the sequence we watched was a round-off into a back walkover?"

"Oh, you did not just call me an idiot. I dare you to say that again!"

"Bite me."

"ENOUGH." Brittany snapped her fingers and both Santana and Quinn fell silent immediately, glaring at each other. "San, Quinn isn't stupid and Quinn, San's not an idiot. FYI, you're both totally wrong. We saw the Cheerios do a double front walkover into a running round-off into a back walkover ending in the splits. So you can go work on that but apologize to each other first."

"But Britt—"

"No buts, San." Brittany shook her head at Santana, who stopped talking and Quinn smirked, but quickly sobered when Brittany turned to her and gave her a warning look. "You're in just as much trouble as she is, princess. Neither of you get to go until you've both said you're sorry."

Brittany had given Quinn the nickname of princess after her "princess in shining armor" analogy in kindergarten. It was Brittany's special name for the blonde, though she really only used it in instances like this to get more leverage. Quinn and Santana never said no to Brittany in general, but Quinn was especially easy to break down when Brittany used that nickname.

However, it was Santana who caved first. She finally huffed and crossed her arms. "I'm sorry, Q. Okay? You're not stupid or whatever."

Quinn rolled her eyes. "Whatever, S. I'm sorry, too. I guess you're not an idiot."

"You _guess_?"

"Please, like your apology was anymore sincere?"

"Q, I swear…"

The two girls continued to bicker as they walked away, but Brittany smiled and knew it wasn't anything to worry about. The initial tension was gone and she settled back against the bench, closing her eyes and drifting off to sleep to the sound of the voices of her two best friends.

* * *

Finally, they'd all made it to fifth grade graduation. The kids of Ms. Walker's kindergarten class were now a mix of ten and eleven year-old's, about to conquer middle school together but to be honest, not very much other than their ages and heights had changed.

Kurt and Mercedes were still best friends and still loved to gossip about everyone and everything. They were almost as tight a twosome as Brittany, Santana, and Quinn were a trio. Puck still sported a Mohawk and probably would until the day he did. Finn loomed over everyone in their class with his ridiculous height. Sam, with his big lips, had truly made an effort over their elementary school years to be friends with everyone and his efforts hadn't gone to waste – everybody liked Sam, just as they liked Matt, who was quiet as ever. He and Artie had eventually latched onto Tina and Mike and the four of them often could be seen chatting with Mercedes and Kurt.

Speaking of Mike, he was the only person Santana and Quinn trusted with their precious Brittany. She and Mike had eventually enrolled into dance class together and their moves were better than ever.

And of course, there was Rachel. She was still incredibly tiny, and it was almost comical to see the height difference when she stood next to Finn. However, her personality was just as big as it had been on the first day of kindergarten.

_For the longest time, Brittany hadn't been able figure out what it was about Rachel that Santana and Quinn disliked so much. Personally, she adored the little brunette and thought she was completely enchanting aside from being slightly obnoxious at times. But Santana and Quinn couldn't stand her. Brittany sensed that a lot of the hate stemmed from Quinn and Santana just went along with it, but that was really the only information she had on the matter._

_Finally in fourth grade, she had cornered Santana in the bathroom during recess. Brittany had always just accepted the fact that Quinn didn't like Rachel, but once she really thought about it, she couldn't figure out why. But she'd never had the guts to ask until that day. They were washing their hands and fixing their hair in the mirror when Brittany finally asked the question she had been dying to ask since kindergarten. _

"_San, why does Quinn hate Rachel so much?" _

_Santana froze momentarily but quickly regained self-control. "Q doesn't hate Rachel, Britt." _

_Brittany leveled with her. "San, I'm totally not the smartest kid in our class but I'm not blind." _

"_I know you're not blind, Britt. And don't say you're not smart, because you so are. Maybe not in science and English, but you're really good at math and you're super smart about dancing, too." _

"_That's really nice of you to say, but I know you're just avoiding the question."_

_Santana sighed. "Come with me, Britt." _

_Santana linked her pinky with Brittany's, something they had started doing in first grade, and led her out of the bathroom. Quinn had stayed home sick that day; maybe that was why Brittany had finally worked up the courage to ask her question. In any case, it meant Santana was free to talk about Quinn with Brittany. She sat down on a bench in the yard and motioned for Brittany to sit beside her. _

"_Britt, you know Q doesn't like it when people call her pretty, right?" _

"_Yeah, you're the only one who gets to." _

"_That's right. But do you know why she doesn't like it?" _

_Brittany thought for a moment before shaking her head. Since kindergarten, everyone had accepted that complimenting Quinn was sort of off limits and Brittany realized now that she never knew why. _

"_Okay. I'm going to tell you why, but I need you to promise me you're not going to tell anybody else, okay?" _

"_Even Quinn?" _

"_No. I'll tell Q that I talked to you about it so that you don't feel like we're talking behind her back and so that she knows you know." _

"_Okay, I'm ready. Tell me." _

_Santana took a deep breath and when she let it out, there was a sad look in her eyes. "Britt, think hard. Have you ever met Q's dad?" _

_Brittany shook her head again. She knew Quinn's older sister Mackenzie, obviously, and she had met her mother Judy on multiple occasions and thought she was super nice. But she had never met Quinn's daddy._

"_That's because Q doesn't really like her dad. She's actually kind of afraid of him. He expects Q to be perfect and act perfect and look perfect all the time. He makes a really big deal of how pretty she is to all of the people he works with, almost like he's showing Q off to them, and she hates the attention. It makes her super uncomfortable. But she's scared of disappointing her dad and of what he'll do if she's not the perfect daughter, so she goes along with it. But on the inside, she hates it. She really, really hates it." _

_Brittany felt sick to her stomach listening to Santana's words, but the Latina wasn't done yet. _

"_The worst part is that Q should be able to enjoy how pretty she is, because she really is the most gorgeous girl in the entire world. But her dad has put so much pressure on her to always look perfect that she hates how she looks now. That's why I don't let anybody call out on Q on her looks. I know they're all just trying to be nice, but it pushes all kinds of bad buttons in her." _

_Brittany was silent for awhile, digesting this new information about Quinn with an ache in her heart. It was one of the saddest things she had ever heard and it made her want to hug Quinn and never let her go. But she was still confused. _

"_I understand all that, San, and it's totally sad and unfair for Quinn. Like, my stomach actually hurts thinking about it. But what does that have to do with Rachel?" _

_Santana nodded. "Right. You know how Rachel's really confident and loud and makes sure everybody else knows it?"_

_Brittany nodded._

"_I'm sure you've noticed by now that Q isn't exactly the most confident person. It really sucks what her dad has done to her because it's totally shattered her self-confidence and obviously Q has nothing to be self-conscious about. But she doesn't like herself very much and that's why Rachel gets under her skin so much. She doesn't hate her as much as she's jealous of her." _

_Brittany leaned back against the bench and processed everything she had heard. No that she knew the real reasons behind Quinn's dislike towards Rachel, it was no wonder the shiny blonde couldn't stand being in the same room with the little diva. They were total opposites; personality-wise, Rachel had everything Quinn didn't and that had to be so hard for her to deal with. _

_She gazed at Santana with tears in her eyes. "That's so sad for Quinn." _

_Santana gave her a sad smile. "I know Britt, and it kills me – literally kills me – that I can't do anything to fix it. The most I can do right now is have Q's back. I try not to be outright mean to Rachel; more just keep her in line. I really don't have a problem with her, other than she's super annoying sometimes." Brittany giggled and Santana winked at her. "I actually think she could be cool if she really tried. But I have to stick by Q. I promised." _

_Brittany nodded her understanding. She was silent momentarily before asking another question. "Does this mean I can't be friends with Rachel?"_

"_Not at all," Santana assured her. "You can definitely be friends with her, and Q would never ask you to mean to Rachel for her sake. Just try not to bring up Rachel much when Q's around." _

"_No problem. I can totally do that. Thanks for telling me all of this, San." _

"_I'll talk to Q tomorrow morning and let her know you and I talked about it. She's kind of broken if you think about it and that sucks, especially for me because I can't deal with seeing her hurting all the time and not being able to do anything about it. But I'm doing what I can, you know? And you help a lot, too, obviously. I'm glad you joined us, Britt." _

_Brittany smiled and leaned her head on Santana's shoulder. "You really love her, don't you, San." _

_There was a pause before Santana responded. "Yeah, Britt, I do. Not more than you. Just in a different way. She's…"_

_Brittany shifted her head and looked into Santana's dark eyes. "She's your blonde. I get it, San. She's my princess, and I love her, too."_

The fifth graders all stood in the hallway outside of the auditorium, waiting for their cue to start marching in two-by-two. Even though it was only fifth grade graduation and they would all be moving onto the middle school together in the fall, it was still incredibly exciting for them.

Santana, clad in a dark blue dress, stood with Brittany and leaned against the wall. The blonde was dressed up in a bright pink dress.

"This is it, Britt. Are you excited?"

Brittany nodded enthusiastically. "I'm so happy we're graduating, San! Are you parents here?"

"Yep, yours?"

"Totally. Mommy cried this morning and told me she was proud of me."

"Aw Britt, that's so nice. I'm proud of you, too."

"Thanks, San."

At the moment, Mike called out to Brittany and she glanced at Santana, who nodded. Brittany gave her a sweet smile before skipping over to Mike to see what he wanted. Santana watched her go, an affectionate smile dancing on her lips.

It had been temporarily questionable whether Brittany would graduate or not. She was so incredibly spacey and often let her mind wander during class, rather than pay attention to the lessons. But Quinn and Santana had worked with her relentlessly until the blonde was completely caught up with all of her studies. They helped her with homework and tutored her for hours until the information was stuck like glue to Brittany's brain. The three of them had worked hard for this moment and Santana couldn't have been prouder of them.

Suddenly, a hand on her shoulder interrupted her thoughts. She turned to see Mercedes standing behind her, a concerned look on her face.

"Ssup, Cedes?"

"Code red. Quinn's crying in the bathroom. I walked in, heard her, walked right back out, and came straight here."

The other children were not blind to Quinn's issues. They knew they weren't allowed to talk about how pretty she was and they were always wary around her, because they never quite knew what would set her off and bring out her mean streak. Whenever Quinn was in a fragile state or did anything that registered as out of the ordinary, whoever noticed it immediately told Santana. She was really the only one who could deal with the blonde girl.

Santana's warning bells instantly went of at Mercedes' words, and she nodded. "Okay, thanks. I'm on it. Tell Brittany where I am?"

"Sure."

Santana thanked her again and took off towards the bathroom. She quietly pushed the door open and listened for the tell-tale sounds of someone crying, but all she heard was silence. She walked into the bathroom and saw that stall at the far end was closed.

She knew almost immediately what the problem was; the fact that Quinn was hiding in the stall instead of looking in the mirror was a dead giveaway Her dad must have insisted her mom really dress her up for the special occasion, to the point where Quinn didn't even want to be seen by anyone else in fear of attracting too much attention.

She called out softly to her best friend. "Q? How bad is it?"

There was a pause before Quinn replied in an emotionless voice. "It's bad."

"Can I see?"

"Are you alone?"

"You know I am."

Slowly, the stall door opened and Quinn stepped out, and Santana physically had to restrain her jaw from dropping.

Quinn was wearing a black velvet dress that stopped just above her knees and swished around her legs when she moved. It went perfectly with her black satin ballet slipper-style flats. Her hair had been brushed to a silky-looking shine, and was parted to the side and clipped away from her face with a dark red bow. Her lips, which were coated with dark red lipstick to match her bow, stood out against her ivory skin. The contrast between her pale complexion and the extreme colors was made her appear _so strikingly beautiful_, Santana couldn't tear her gaze away.

But this was Quinn she was dealing with, and Santana snapped out of her trance after several seconds. She knew how uncomfortable Quinn must be and that made something inside of her ache.

"Can I touch you, Q?"

Santana and Brittany always asked before they touched Quinn, because they knew how the blonde was about touchy-feely stuff. But Quinn nodded, giving Santana permission.

The little Latina stepped closer to her best friend, and reached a hand up to run a finger down Quinn's cheek. Quinn closed her eyes at the contact.

"Open your eyes, Q, and look at me."

Quinn's hazel eyes found Santana's dark brown ones as the shorter girl spoke. "You look flawless, Q. So ridiculously pretty it's unfair. And yeah, everybody's going to look at you. But it'll only last a couple seconds because they all know it's not allowed. So let them have their little look and then it'll be over."

Quinn's bottom lip trembled. "I don't want to walk out there, S. I don't want to see Daddy afterwards. Mom did her best to keep him away while she and Mackenzie helped me get ready because she knows how upset it makes me, but he kept coming into the room and wouldn't stop saying how pretty I looked and how all eyes were going to be on me."

Santana put a finger to Quinn's quivering lips. "Don't cry, pretty girl." It was her pet name for her best friend. "It's going to be okay, I promise. Your mom will keep your dad in check, plus B and I both told our parents to stick with yours just in case. If he starts to go overboard, someone will change the subject."

"Promise?"

"Have I ever lied to you?"

Quinn shook her head. Santana took one of Quinn's hands and brought it up to her lips, pressing a kiss her knuckles.

"I know it'll be hard for you to fake being relaxed and happy out there and that you'll do the normal smile, but can I get a real smile before we go back out there?"

Quinn real-smiled for her best friend, and it was so unfair that the rest of the world would never know how truly beautiful Quinn could look when she let her face light up. Santana took a mental snapshot of her best friend and knew she'd remember how Quinn looked in that moment for her entire life. She tugged Quinn into a quick hug, something they rarely did, before taking her hand and leading them back into the hall.

True to Santana's word, the rest of the children all gaped at Quinn as she passed them but quickly averted their eyes. Only one person had the guts to say something about it.

Puck, looking somewhat comical with his Mohawk and suit and bow-tie, marched straight up to Quinn, grabbed her hands and said, "You're the prettiest girl ever" before kissing her on the cheek.

Santana held her breath but let it out in relief when Quinn giggled and blushed. "Thanks, Puck," she said sweetly, and the boy managed to look embarrassed and pleased with himself at the same time. There was a moment of silence before all the other children in their group of friends began to gravitate around Quinn, encouraged by her positive reaction to Puck's compliment.

Tina and Mercedes told her how amazing her hair looked while Brittany gushed over her dress. Every single one of the boys kissed her on the cheek, and as Santana watched from a few feet away, she felt her heart swell with pride. Though it wasn't her true real smile, the look on Quinn's face was pretty close to it. Santana looked on as her best friend shined for their friends and silently thanked God for allowing her this moment of happiness.

One of the teachers suddenly poked her head out from the auditorium door, and told them to form a line; it was time. Just before they started walking in, Santana saw Rachel take a deep breath and approach Quinn. They were walking in next pairs, and Rachel and Quinn had been paired together. The little brunette was the only one in their group who had hung back when everyone else was fawning over Quinn, and Santana didn't blame her.

"Quinn?"

Quinn turned her head at the sound of Rachel's voice and raised her eyebrow at the tiny girl.

"You… you look really pretty."

Santana bit her lip as she watched Quinn close her eyes briefly and take a deep breath. But when she opened them, instead of the normal smirk that would appear on her face when speaking to Rachel, she was smiling softly.

"Thank you, Rachel. You look pretty, too. Pink is a good color on you."

Rachel's eyes lit up in delight and she beamed up at Quinn, thanking her. Tears filled Santana's eyes as she watched the exchange; she had never been more proud of her best friend than she was in that moment. She knew that no matter how obnoxious Quinn's dad would be later or how fussy all their parents would get over taking pictures after graduation, nothing would ruin this day.

Suddenly, Brittany was tugging her arm. "Come on, San, it's almost our turn to walk in!"

Santana looked back over her shoulder at Quinn and Rachel, who were a couple pairs behind them. The two girls were talking, and something Rachel said made Quinn laugh. Feeling happier than she could ever remember, Santana turned back around and saw Brittany grinning at her.

"Happy, San?"

Santana linked pinkies as they started to walk into the auditorium full of their proud parents and excited classmates. She smiled at Brittany.

"Yeah, B. I'm happy."

* * *

**This is so fluffy, yikes. Oh well, it'll get dramatic eventually! **

**Up next: Middle school! **


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